Hammad Azhar blames Sindh govt for high rates of flour in province

Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar has said that the citizens of Sindh are purchasing flour at higher rates as compared to other parts of the country due to lower releases of wheat by the Sindh government.

In a tweet post on Monday, the Federal Minister said that the provincial government has released wheat at around 6,000 metric tons per day despite its promise to release 10,000 metric tons per day.

“Sindh government has released wheat at around 6,000 mt/day despite its promise to release 10,000. It also started its releases late in season compared to other provinces. People in Sindh are purchasing expensive flour compared to other parts of country due to lower releases by Sindh government,” he said.

Just days ago, Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bukhtiar, claimed that after a gradual reduction in wheat flour price was recorded, the per 40kg bag flour price had reduced Rs2,200 from Rs2,400.

The minister while talking to media persons further stated that over 25.7 million tons of wheat was required, while production and carry forward stock of last year was of 25.6 million tons. The minister further stated that the Punjab government and Passco released wheat from their stocks in July 2020 to bring down prices, while the Sindh government started releasing wheat stock in October, and in November the Sindh government was requested to release 10,000 metric tons of wheat.

The minister informed that the Sindh government allocated 136,000 metric tons for Karachi for the current month but only 27,000 metric tons of this commodity reached flour mills.